Chapter 11

A perfect revenge requires the queen's presence.That was Nikolai's rule.Three hours ago, his Gulfstream G650, stamped with the double-headed eagle, crossed the Atlantic. It landed safely at JFK."Let them keep kneeling." I held my champagne. My eyes were cold, fixed on the huge monitor on the wall.The top-floor safe house on Billionaire's Row was warm.Nikolai sat on the black leather sofa. He was playing with a custom compact pistol. His gray-blue eyes were full of contempt.Outside, New York was drenched in a cold, hard rain.An armed Russian bodyguard stood behind me. "Ma'am, those stray dogs have been kneeling in the rain for three hours."I chuckled. Swiped my finger across the tablet, splitting the screen into multiple feeds.One feed was from two hours ago. The slums.After their blow-up in that cheap apartment, Isla had run. She tried to hide in the filthiest part of New York to survive.But she couldn't escape those two madmen.My father and Julian, facing federal warrants

Chapter 12

The elevator doors slammed shut behind them.The penthouse was silent. Suffocating.Nikolai sat in the center of the room. On a black leather sofa. His face hidden in shadow. A Cuban cigar burned in his hand.He didn't even glance at these reeking strays from the slums. Like looking at them would dirty his eyes."Pakhan!" My father fell to his knees, slamming his head on the carpet. Again and again.His forehead was already bloody. His voice was a pathetic, fawning wreck.My mother dragged Julian, with his broken legs, to the floor beside him. They bowed like a metronome.Isla lay on the floor, barely clothed. Shivering. Her hands covering her chest. She didn't dare look up at the man they called a monster."Pakhan, please, have mercy, just listen to me!"My father looked up, his face a grotesque mask of a smile. He pointed at Isla.Pimping out his own daughter."The substitute we sent before was worthless. Aurora, she's stubborn, dirty, and hard. She must have offended you. Dumped her

Chapter 13

After the shock came the fear.These arrogant bastards finally understood their situation.Their ace in the hole was a joke.My mother scrambled toward me, crawling on the expensive carpet. Her hands were filthy, her nails digging into the fibers. She was a mess of snot and tears. The elegant lady was gone."Aurora! I'm your mother! Your own mother!" she wailed. "It was Isla! That liar tricked us! Mommy was wrong! Please, talk to the Pakhan, save us!"I looked down at her. Cold.I felt nothing. Their crying was disgusting.My own mother?When you locked me in a shipping container to die, did you think of that?When you threw me to kidnappers as a decoy, did you think of that?Now you remember you're my mother.Slap. Slap.The sharp sounds echoed.My father, still on his knees, was slapping himself. Hard.His cheeks swelled instantly. Blood trickled from his mouth."I deserve to die! I was an old fool!" he sobbed, tears streaming down his face. The once-powerful man was now a groveling

Chapter 14

A flicker of bloodlust lit up Nikolai's gray-blue eyes.He sneered. His finger tightened on the trigger."Wait."I reached out. Tapped Nikolai's muscular arm.The sound of metal stopped at the last second.Nikolai turned to me, his eyes questioning."Kill them? A bullet is too quick. Death is a mercy."Nikolai chuckled.He pulled the gun from Julian's bloody mouth. Wiped the blood on Julian's expensive suit.Julian collapsed to the floor, coughing violently. Like a fish out of water.He looked at me. A ridiculous flicker of hope in his eyes.He thought I'd gone soft.I turned away.Took a piece of paper from a black folder held by one of the guards.It was the blood contract my father had signed a few days ago. The one where he gave me up, smearing his blood across the signature line without hesitation. All for money.I walked over to them.Slap!I threw the paper in my father's face.The sharp edge cut his cheek, leaving a bright red line. Blood welled up, dripping onto the white pape

Chapter 15

The next morning, the Irish mob sent me a very detailed death report."Ms. Nyx, the packages have been handled." Scarface's voice was cruel over the encrypted video call, his eyes full of absolute reverence. "I promise you, this is the most spectacular ending in the history of the New York underworld."I leaned back on the leather sofa, lazily scrolling through the tablet.The images were deeply satisfying.My high-and-mighty parents. Scarface had personally severed every tendon in their arms and legs.They were just two bloody lumps of meat now.They were thrown into a maximum-security federal prison, charged under the RICO Act.No sunlight. Only endless torture.The inmates were all men who had been ruined by the De Luca family.The moment they saw my parents thrown in, their eyes lit up with a green, predatory glow.Every day, they would "welcome" their new cellmates in the most vile and brutal ways imaginable.They would never leave that prison alive.Even death would be a luxury.

Chapter 16

One month later.Moscow, Russia. The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.The deep, solemn bells of Moscow's oldest and grandest Orthodox cathedral rang out, shattering the falling snow.This wasn't just a wedding.It was a coronation.I stood behind the cathedral's heavy bronze doors. I listened coldly to the murmurs outside, the hum of helicopter blades.A month ago, in the New York rain, Julian had offered me a secret, shameful wedding.He thought I deserved to be hidden in the shadows.Nikolai had crushed that idea to dust.He would not let me be slighted.He booked the entire cathedral. The highest symbol of Russian faith.He wanted the whole world to watch as I ascended to the pinnacle of the underworld.Today, the heads of over a hundred of the world's top crime syndicates had flown to Moscow.The dons of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra. The chiefs of the Irish Mob. The Colombian drug lords.These ruthless men, who killed without blinking in their own territories, now sat quietly in the pe